A stance is your position on the issue plus the attitude you show towards it. You build it from the task’s instructions and the source’s material, then keep it steady so the reader always knows where you stand. It appears in directed writing whenever you are asked to give a view, persuade, advise or respond.
This lesson follows transforming information, because stance is what your transformed facts are working for.
How does the task set your stance?
Read the task for clues: a role (“you are a student”), a verb (“argue”, “explain”, “advise”) and a relationship with the reader (formal letter or friendly talk).
The source gives you the evidence. It does not choose your stance for you. You decide which position the evidence supports most strongly and which tone suits the reader.
Building a stance, step by step
- State the position in one sentence. For example, “The library should stay open on Sundays.”
- Choose the attitude. Firm? Concerned? Constructive? Match it to audience and relationship.
- Find two or three details from the source that support the position.
- Plan where it is stated. Put the position in the opening and return to it in the closing.
- Check each paragraph. Does it still sound like the same writer?
Worked example
Use the library extract from Select source material for a stated audience.
Task: You are a student. Write a letter to Councillor Tan asking her to reconsider closing the library on Sundays.
Step 1, position. “Sunday opening should be kept, or replaced by something that gives students the same access.”
Step 2, attitude. The reader is a councillor, so the tone is respectful, firm and constructive, not angry.
Step 3, support. Saturday is the busiest day, so weekend study is valued. The Youth Forum calls the library the only quiet place with free internet. The council’s reading-room plan covers Tuesday to Friday, not Sundays.
Step 4, opening and closing.
Opening: “I am writing to ask you to keep the library open on Sundays, because for some students it is the only place where revision is possible.”
Closing: “I hope the council will keep Sunday opening, or agree a shorter opening that still lets students study.”
The two sentences match in position and tone. A reader who read only those would know exactly where you stand.
The mistake to watch for
A common slip is drift: starting strong, then slowly agreeing with the other side or changing tone.
Mistaken paragraph: “The closures are unfair to students and the council has ignored us. However, I understand that money is tight, so maybe it is fine. Anyway, the mobile library sounds nice.”
The writer starts angry, then agrees, then changes the subject.
Correction: keep the position and show fairness without giving it up. “I understand that the council must save money, but the savings should not come at the cost of the only quiet study place students have.” The council’s problem is acknowledged and the stance holds.
Check yourself
1. Which stance suits a speech to classmates: “deeply offended” or “concerned but hopeful”? Explain.
Show answer
Either can work if it is controlled. “Concerned but hopeful” invites classmates to act with you, which suits a petition. “Deeply offended” risks sounding like complaint without a plan. Judge by purpose: you want them to sign.
2. A student begins a letter with “I strongly oppose the closures” and ends with “It is a sensible plan.” What is wrong?
Show answer
The stance is inconsistent. The opening and closing point in opposite directions, so the reader cannot tell what the writer wants. Decide on one position, and use any concession in the middle as part of the argument.
3. Write one sentence that states a clear stance on this task: “Write an article for the school magazine explaining why the library matters to students.”
Show answer
Example: “For students without a quiet space at home, the library is not a luxury but a necessary part of studying.” It states a position and an attitude, and it can be supported from the source. Other wording is fine.
Where this leads next
A strong stance must deal honestly with the other side: see Address an opposing point accurately. The audience register and purpose planner helps you pick tone before you begin drafting.
If stance and tone are the parts of writing that feel hardest to judge alone, that is something we work through in online one-to-one English First Language tuition.